Thanks to the partnership between CISAT and School of Arts and Humanities, the Paul Gray PC Museum selects a Museum Studies student to serve as Executive Director during their coursework at Claremont Graduate University (CGU). Not only is this innovative model a boon for the museum, but it offers graduate students the remarkable opportunity to run all operations of a museum, and the freedom to develop initiatives suited to their experience and career goals, all with the safety net of highly active and supportive board of directors. I am excited to share the accomplishments of our past and present directors, and announce our new Executive Director, Bailey Westerhoff!
Kiera Peacock, founding Executive Director of the Paul Gray PC Museum, currently works at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives at Stanford University. As an exhibitions team member, Kiera supports the development, coordination, and promotion of physical and digital exhibitions. Prior to working at Stanford, Kiera has worked at several cultural heritage organizations in Southern California. During her time as the Executive Director of the Paul Gray PC Museum, Kiera curated two exhibitions, conserved artifacts from the collection, and initiated a successful fundraising campaign for the museum. She currently serves on the board of the museum. Kiera holds an MA in Cultural Studies from CGU.
Allison Koehler graduated from CGU in May with an MA in Cultural Studies, thus concluding her term as the second Executive Director of the Paul Gray PC Museum. The primary focus of her tenure was to develop education and public programming initiatives for the museum. Allison helped launch the museum’s ongoing speaker series, Decoding the Past: Conversations with PC Innovators, and created a classroom curriculum, available on our website here, to help students and educators engage with the museum’s collection. Allison currently works as an Educator for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, designing and implementing programming for students, teachers, and families. Allison also holds an MA in Education from Antioch University.
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New Executive Director, Bailey Westerhoff is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Cultural Studies with a focus in Museum Studies and Art Management at CGU. Studying in Florence, she earned her MA in Museum Studies from Marist College in conjunction with the Institution Lorenzo de’ Medici. Bailey has experience working with museums of all sizes and subjects, with past projects focusing on visitor accessibility, education, and new museum construction. Recently Bailey has concentrated her attention on garnering skills in nonprofit development and fundraising. As the new Executive Director of the Paul Gray PC Museum, Bailey is excited to continue growing the museums audience while ensuring the organizations financial and educational legacy.
On behalf of the museum, I want to thank you all for your support and donations that have made this Executive Director position possible. I’m proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish during my tenure, and I can’t wait to see where Bailey takes the museum in the future! -Allison Koehler
A Note From Our Board
We are in a season of transitions at the Paul Gray Personal Computing Museum. We weathered the past few years of the pandemic by strengthening our programming, by expanding our audience and by confirming the great value of our leadership model. The last item, our leadership team, led by MA student and now alumna, Allison Koehler, and now arriving new Executive Director, PhD student Bailey Westerhoff, has given all of us a great deal of pride in the work of the past and confidence in the future. This leadership model, born of a unique partnership between the Center for Information Systems and Technology and the School of Art and Humanities’ Museum Studies program, will now weather a different transition, the retirement of Professor Lorne Olfman, a colleague and protégé of Paul Gray, a long-time and beloved leader of CISAT, a founding board member of the PGPCM and a dear colleague of mine. Lorne’s dedication to the museum and his hope for its continued and on-going success serve as a profound injunction to shepherd the museum forward. Please consider paying homage to Lorne and his devotion, care and collaborative fervor by helping us honor this meaningful and productive past by securing the museum’s future with an essential donation. The museum is funded entirely by donations from its supporters. Strong support for the museum will guarantee that these transitions will only add to our continued success. Please click here to donate now!
Joshua Goode
Associate Professor of History and Cultural Studies and Director of the Museum Studies Program at CGU
